Chapter 32 Chapter 32 Penalty Shootout
Kroos took the initiative to walk over to the Spanish team who were still celebrating, and pulled the jerseys off their bodies with one hand. Seeing that this guy lost the game but his jersey-changing posture was particularly handsome, Leandri also wanted to learn from him, but unfortunately the goalkeeper uniform was not as easy to take off as their jerseys.
Leandri grabbed the collar of his goalkeeper uniform and pulled it up, but it got caught on the long sleeve. Although it was a bit embarrassing, Leandri reacted quickly and raised his other hand to help pull the stuck sleeve out without blushing or beating his heart. When the collar was turned out, he also rolled up his brown and black curly hair a few times.
The two had agreed to exchange jerseys before the game, and Leandri shook the jersey to make it smooth and handed it over.
"Did you just want to imitate me, but you got stuck and couldn't take it off?" Cross likes to hit people in the face.
Leandri's face darkened. "Is it not okay for me to just like taking off my clothes like this?"
Kroos put the opponent's green goalkeeper uniform on his shoulders, put his hands on his waist to recover his breath from running all over the field, "We lost to you again." Last year in the U17 competition, the German team also lost to Spain led by Leandri.
Leandri hugged the man's shoulders and consoled him, "I told you I would win the championship for you. You guys played really well. I almost couldn't react when you shot the ball at my head just now. By the way, do you want to watch the final?"
Kroos nodded. The final will be held on September 9th. On the 8th, the German team will compete with the Ghanaian team for the third place. There will also be an award ceremony and so on. Naturally, all members of the German team will be present to watch the game.
"If I win the championship, I will leave the jersey to you, okay? I have never given a jersey to anyone unilaterally, Tony, don't be too sad, okay?" Seeing that his friend was still a little depressed, Leandri tried to find a way to cheer him up.
Kroos's eyes were calm. "Are you trying to comfort me? Let me take your championship jersey back."
Leandri was not angry. He was used to the Spaniard's clingy style. He kissed Kroos's eyebrow and didn't mind the sweat on the German's forehead. "Tony, although you lost the game, I found that you have become a better person."
Cross squinted at him and waited for the next words.
Leandri continued, "I noticed that the acne on your face has disappeared a lot. You have become more handsome."
Cross touched his cheek and agreed. "I think so too. Felix even said that I was deceiving myself."
After chatting for a few more words, both of them had to return to their own teams. Kroos walked back with his back turned, without any underwear on. He picked up Ryan's goalkeeper's clothes hanging on his shoulder with his right hand and waved goodbye to him in the air.
The Spanish team will rest for three days before facing their final opponent Nigeria.
This team has a talented forward, Macaulay Chrysanthos.
Since the start of the group stage, Chrysantus has scored 7 goals, basically securing the Golden Boot. Ghana's Osei raised his goal tally to 6 after yesterday's game, while Bojan has only 5 goals and one assist so far. It will be a bit difficult for him to turn the tables and win the Golden Boot in this game.
Spain's opponent Nigeria has rich experience in winning the World Youth Championship. In the previous ten competitions, Nigeria won two championships and two runner-up titles.
Before this, Spain had never won the World U-17 Championship. They had reached the finals twice but failed both times. As the favorite team to win the championship before the game, Spanish fans who are paying attention to this game hope that Leandri and his team can bring back the first World Youth Championship trophy for Spain when they reach the final for the third time.
The day before the final, Florentino appeared in Seoul with Maria. The couple would basically support Leandri in all his important competitions regardless of distance.
On the day of the game, the camera kept scanning the former president of Real Madrid in the stands. Although the old man was traveling for private matters, there were still several well-known Korean giants standing beside him, and they occasionally chatted with each other.
The two teams filed out behind the referee, played the national anthem and took photos.
At the Seoul World Cup Stadium, the game officially began with the referee's whistle.
Spain kicked off first. Aquino, who came from the Murcia youth team, partnered with the Catalan prince Bojan on the front line. The two forwards have scored eight goals for Spain.
Aquino passed the ball to Bojan and ran forward.
Nigeria paid attention to shrinking its formation after the opening, and did not easily give Spain opportunities in the midfield and frontcourt. Not long after Bojan advanced a few steps, they had already begun to prepare for interception and counterattack in the frontcourt.
Spanish players generally have delicate footwork and sharp attacking skills, and their overall advancement is very smooth, which is why they attracted the support of many neutral fans during the game.
But the African Eagles Nigeria are different. They generally have excellent physique, play tough and are very aggressive. The team's top scorer Chrisantos combines technology with physical fitness and has been like a fish in water in the final round of the World Youth Championship.
Neither side scored a goal during regular time. For 90 minutes, the performances of the two teams were completely evenly matched.
The two teams each had 50% of the ball possession, which was an exceptional performance for Nigeria, a country with a tough style of play.
I thought the winner could be decided in overtime, but both sides had more than 20 shots in 120 minutes, but only about 7 shots were on target. The forwards forgot their shooting boots in the hotel and couldn't go back to get them during the half-time break.
The game officially entered the brutal penalty shootout stage.
Florentino in front of the camera also looked at the situation on the field with a serious face. This was the first penalty shootout in Leandri's competitive career.
Kroos and the players and coaches of the German team sat in the stands and watched quietly as the Spanish team members took the time to drink water on the sidelines.
The head coaches of both teams began to deploy their troops, selecting the players and order for taking the penalties. Leandri took the statistics and some players' shooting preferences handed over by the assistant coach and quickly flipped through them.
Nigeria took the first shot, with their captain Matthew Edile standing on the penalty spot.
Before Leandri adjusted his gloves and walked into the door frame, he put aside the data he had just memorized in his mind. The data sample was too small and not accurate, nor representative. More depended on his own performance on the court.
Facing the most heart-pounding penalty kick, Leandri relaxed at this moment, even smiled at the serious players on the opposite side, and nodded to the referee to indicate that he was ready.
The whistle sounded, and when Matthew Edler made eye contact with Leandri and saw his smile, he already knew which direction to kick, took a run-up, and shot!
The Spanish fans in the stands and in front of the TV were all extremely nervous. At this moment, they all wanted to send Casillas to save the penalty. Aren't these two goalkeepers said to have a good relationship, so why couldn't they just possess him?
They have heard that Leandri performed very well in the Spanish Second Division this year, but no one has seen him save a penalty shootout, and no one knows whether he can withstand the pressure.
Look, the young man is laughing. Could it be that he is too nervous?
The ball drew an arc on the court. Even though Leandri tried desperately to reach it, the ball still brushed past his fingertips and flew into the net, hitting the side and creating ripples.
Leandri curled his lips and said, "Okay, it was a bad start."
Spain sent out midfielder Illarramendi in the first round, and his shot sent the ball directly out of the baseline.
In the second round, Nigeria still sent out a defender, and Daniel Joshua scored the goal.
The penalty kick taken by Spanish midfielder Fran Merida was accurately saved by the Nigerian goalkeeper.
2-0, Spain is in danger.
The Spanish fans who were following the game became even more nervous. Maria held Florentino's hand tightly, fearing that Leandri would not save the ball in the next round and the Spanish players would miss the penalty again and be eliminated directly!
The fans looked at the score on the field in despair, and the commentator's voice asking for a beating kept coming to their ears, which was a buzzing and annoying sound.
"Spain is already two goals behind, which is a huge gap in a penalty shootout! Can the 17-year-old Leandri withstand the pressure? Next, Nigerian player Ossene came up to take the penalty. We can see that the defender looks very confident. He scored a goal for Nigeria in the previous game! If Leandri can't hold on, Spain can basically be declared defeated in advance."
Leandri stood in front of the goal, jumping up and down to cheer himself up, then clapped his hands vigorously to make a noise, smiled as he looked at the player approaching the serving point, and calmly shouted to the referee and Ossini, "Come on! I'm ready!" It seemed that he did not take Ossini's shot seriously at all, and told everyone confidently that I can definitely save this ball.
For goalkeepers, they often do some actions before saving a penalty kick to influence the mentality of the opposing players. This is also a very common psychological design.
Ossini moved, took a few steps back and started to run. He didn't even think about where to go in advance, in case Leandri guessed his thoughts from his eyes.
But the next second, Oseni's eyes widened.
"Praise him! The 17-year-old teenager withstood the pressure! He saved the penalty! Spain still has a chance!"
Leandri lifted the ball out of the baseline with both hands, and when it landed, he stood in front of the goal line and punched the ball to celebrate.
Yago then scored and the score was 2-1.
After exchanging positions again, Nigeria's Akinsola kicked the ball!
Although Leandri misjudged the position, fortunately he reacted quickly, adjusted his body in time, and used his toes to push the ball out of the goal post!
The Spanish fans who had closed their eyes in despair suddenly felt their bodies warm again. The commentary in their ears was no longer noisy, but instead became a secret language that could bring people back to life.
"Leandri! Leandri! He saved two penalties in a row! He is the most anticipated goalkeeper of the new generation! Arsenal! Manchester United! All teams! What are you waiting for?!"
"Ferguson has been looking for a younger goalkeeper to replace Van der Sar! Sir, the most important thing you should do now is to make an offer to Real Madrid immediately!"
Aquino then came on the field, took a deep breath and shot on the spot!
The ball flew straight to the far corner and Nigerian goalkeeper Ajiboye was helpless.
The game was tied at 2-2, and the players who took the final free throws were the core players of both teams' offense, Chrysantus and Bojan.
Leandri took a few deep breaths, and this time he no longer faced the other party with a smile. He looked at Chrysantus with sharp eyes, clapping his hands and roaring to cheer himself up. Nigeria originally led by two goals but was tied again, and their mentality was definitely unstable at this moment.
Chrysantus didn't even look at Leandri, he just kicked the ball after the whistle sounded.
Leandri's mind has never been so focused. The moment the opponent kicked the ball, he dived to the upper right corner as if he had a premonition!
The ball was caught directly by Leandri!
After landing, he excitedly caught the ball with one hand, pumped his fist again to celebrate, and shouted to Bojan who was walking forward and Ajiboye who was about to switch positions with him, "Champion!"
Bojan also nodded heavily. At this time, the whole of Spain was in great shape!
In the final crucial penalty kick, Bojan was so skilled and bold that he pushed a low ball, and the ball went into the net quickly and sharply. Ajiboye stood in front of the goal and threw his gloves angrily.
2-3, Spain U17 came back from behind and won the championship in the penalty shootout.
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